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I wanted to be sure that people know about Microsoft’s free anti-spyware/malware application.

I was helping 2 people clean up their virus/spyware laden computers, and after running a collection of software that I have (industry antivirus programs) I thought about giving up.  As a last resort I tried using Windows Defender.

You know what happened?  Of course you do, or I wouldn’t be talking about it:  It worked!  It completely cleaned the system of the malware.  I was in shock..and awe.

So for all you Windows users out there, go to microsoft.com and download windows defender.  It’s one of the few programs that Microsoft makes that is worth the cost (free).

Now, don’t expect it to always work.  But so far in my experience, a few computer besides those first 2, it works as well or better then other stuff out there, and that other stuff costs good money.

Aargh.  Ars Technica just dropped a bomb…a huge stinking bomb.

The website who’s slogan is “the art of technology” just wrote a glowing review of MS Office 2008 for Mac.  They talked about how pretty it was, how well it worked, and throughout the review repeated the phrase “Microsoft’s Office suite is the de facto standard.”  Did Microsoft purchase this site, along with ISO, many US Congressmen and other country’s governments as well?

So, because something is shoved down your throat as the “de facto” standard, you must use it, for fear of not playing nicely?

Lets look at history’s “de facto” standards that people followed for a time (and still do today):

• Numerous Dictator’s and totalitarian governments that force the people to “show their appreciation” of their leaders. “Vote for your current leader or else..”
• Slavery
• Sexism
• Racism (race x is obviously inferior, due to lack of education, technology, etc..)
• Sweatshops
• Children sold to help feed the family
• and many many more “everyone does it, so should you!“

Am I taking this too far?  Yeah I know it sounds ridiculous to relate an Office Suite (especially one as pretty!) to these inhumane acts.  I don’t think the Office Suite is that bad..what I do think is bad is using the phrase “it’s the de facto standard, so you should use it too” as the reason for everyone to use it.  It’s peer pressure, bullying and giving in the pressure of a company who has been found guilty of unethical business behavior, in multiple countries.  Hmm..Is my list above really that far off?

Growing up, my parents, school and community worked soooo hard to teach me to not give in to peer pressure; to think of my actions before doing them.

If you are a PC user, try OpenOffice, it’s free.  It also uses the only REAL internationally-recognized document standard as it’s default document format: Open Document Format (ODF).  It’s so near fully compatible with Office that the sheep who use the “de facto” office suite won’t even notice that you don’t.

If you are a Mac user, try NeoOffice.  It’s basically the mac version of OpenOffice.  It’s also free, and also uses the only internationally-recognized document standard: ODF.

Should I be like Ars Technica and repeat “the only internationally-recognized Document Format Standard?”

No, not that little Robert! I’m talking about my son-to-be come August. I finally got around to scanning the Ultrasound photos, and I uploaded them to my Google Photos account. (I think Google should brand all there stuff gXXX. gPhoto, gMail, etc…rename blogger to gSpot).

anways, here’s the album, I’m sure you’re all dying to see: